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Reader Comments and Retorts

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Obviously, he could be innocent. We certainly should presume him innocent. But, if it were true, it would be a much different league of bad than bat flips and having fun on a baseball field. Not sure I'd see him coming back (in my eyes) from that. I'm hopeful that either a) he didn't do it or b) it was truthful testimony.

I suppose there is a c: Puig was "coerced" by the Cubans for the testimony. That seems pretty likely to me. And, while giving in to such pressure isn't heroic, I don't know that I'd think that badly of a guy who caves under threat of imprisonment and torture. It's easy to say you shouldn't but I'm not sure how many of us would stand up under those circumstances.

I am not a Puig fan in general, but this, at its worst, looks like a case of "I was trying to get out of Cuba, and I was a teenager. Do you have any idea what getting out of Cuba is like? I ended up doing something that is shameful beyond words, because I panicked." What I would like to hear afterwards would be, "Yeah, I've now got a lot of money. And yes, I hurt someone very badly. So yes, I'm giving him a significant part of my money, which should be enough for him to live in at least middle-class comfort for the rest of his life. I mean, he paid for the money I got. And no, this is not extortion on his part. I hurt him. I have one enormous asset and only one. I ought to pay him off - it's the ETHICAL thing to do. Extortion is not what's happening here, nor am I paying him off just to get him out of my hair. I'm paying him off because it's the right thing to do."

If that happens, my opinion of Puig will rise by leaps and bounds. - Brock Hanke

I am not a lawyer, but the Torture Victim Protection Act does not seem to apply to someone in Puig's position here. He had no apparent authority in Cuba.

From the Library of Congress:

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL ACTION.

(a) LIABILITY- An individual who, under actual or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation--
(1) subjects an individual to torture shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to that individual; or
(2) subjects an individual to extrajudicial killing shall, in a civil action, be liable for damages to the individual's legal representative, or to any person who may be a claimant in an action for wrongful death.
(b) EXHAUSTION OF REMEDIES- A court shall decline to hear a claim under this section if the claimant has not exhausted adequate and available remedies in the place in which the conduct giving rise to the claim occurred.
(c) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS- No action shall be maintained under this section unless it is commenced within 10 years after the cause of action arose.